Star Wars Best Moment Of The Decade Ruined By Disney’s Worst Series
In December 2020 Bob Dylan sold his entire music catalogue for $300 million, an audio recording leaked of Tom Cruise going nuclear on his Mission: Impossible crew for breaking COVID-19 protocols, and the young Luke Skywalker made his triumphant return in “The Rescue”–the Season 2 finale of Disney+’s The Mandalorian. It was the greatest Star Wars moment of the decade, and a year later The Book of Boba Fett ruined it.
The Rescue
The Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian sees Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin joined by Cara Dune, Fennec Shand, Bo-Katan, and Koska Reeves in a daring raid on an Imperial cruiser to save Grogu from Moff Gideon. The child is saved and Gideon is captured, but the heroes find themselves cornered on the bridge, with a small army of robotic dark troopers on their way.
Two episodes earlier, Din and Grogu traveled to an ancient Jedi site with the goal of the young force user calling on a Jedi to help him. Grogu is captured before anyone can respond, but it’s because of this call that a lone x-wing arrives before the dark troopers can smash into the bridge.
A hooded figure is seen walking through the cruiser’s hallways–soon flashing a lightsaber and tearing through the ranks of droids.
As fans watched the Mandalorian episode, they were sure it was who they hoped it was, but it wasn’t until the view of the Jedi switched from the bridge’s surveillance cameras–through which we couldn’t make out the color of the blade–to the Jedi himself, wielding a bright green lightsaber, did that 99 percent certainty click over to 100.
After 37 years, Luke Skywalker was back–and not an old and disillusioned Luke, but one who may as well have still smelled of the smoke from his father’s funeral pyre.
Our Hearts Soared, And Then They Broke
As joyful as it was to finally see Luke arrive in The Mandalorian, that nostalgic glee soon turned to something bittersweet when we remembered why Luke was there.
A heartbroken Din Djarin says goodbye to a reluctant Grogu, and all of our hearts shatter with theirs. Once more betraying his oath, Din removes his helmet so Grogu can finally see his face. So we don’t all just start sobbing and ripping our wrists open, R2D2 turns up and woos Grogu–apparently because R2 doesn’t recognize the similarity to the little green dude who battered him with a stick, or because the astrodroid is a forgiving soul.
It was an absolutely perfectly done moment in the Star Wars franchise. It was so universally embraced–and there has been so much divisive fandom toxicity since–that when remembering the Mandalorian episode, part of me almost thought I dreamed the thing.
Then The Book of Boba Fett came along and just squeezed a Count Dooku over the whole thing.
So You Did All That Just To Take Him Back, Like… Immediately?
I’m not going to argue that Din and Grogu should never have been reunited–though I would feel remiss if I didn’t say that nothing in The Mandalorian since has topped that Season 2 finale and I doubt anything ever could.
I will argue, though, that the reunion of Din and Grogu–if it did have to happen–should have taken more time.
Yes, I wanted them back together and yes the thing with Grogu and the rancor was adorable. But it all felt very much unearned. Din spent two seasons trying to get Grogu back to the Jedi, he finally achieves his goal, and almost immediately they’re back together.
It’s like resurrecting a dead hero in a series or sequel movie–it has to feel earned. If it doesn’t take long enough, if enough hardship isn’t suffered to make the return happen, then it feels like a sham.
How Should It Have Happened Differently?
The power of the moment at the end of The Mandalorian‘s “The Rescue” was just too much for the events to be undone in two episodes of a spinoff (and, let’s be real, a lousy spinoff at that).
If they were going to reunite, The Mandalorian should have spent most of an entire season with the why and the how.
Maybe Din can’t decide whether or not he wants Grogu back–maybe the very fact that he becomes an exile for removing his helmet is enough to make him rethink being a father to the child.
Maybe Din and Grogu want to reunite, Luke and Ahsoka aren’t so sure it should happen, and it all erupts into something not too friendly.
Or maybe Grogu has changed under Luke’s tutelage and the little frog-eater doesn’t want to spend all his time with a bounty hunter who never removes his helmet so he always looks like an old-school Battlestar Galactica cylon.
There are any number of stories the writers could’ve come up with to stretch out the time before the reunion happened a little bit longer. Regardless of what that story ended up being, it should’ve unfolded in The Mandalorian, not The Book of We’re Not Sure What This Story Is, But Look It’s Cad Bane!
